Emergency Care

When patients need emergency care, hospitals must be required to provide the emergency care immediately on site.

Unfortunately, there have been reports of religiously-sponsored hospitals refusing to treat women presenting in the emergency department with dangerous ectopic pregnancies and failing to offer emergency contraception to victims of sexual assault. In such emergency cases, the patient’s need for care must take precedence over a hospital’s policies.

When a hospital has an emergency department, it should be required to provide such emergency care as a condition of Medicare and Medicaid participation, as well as licensing and accreditation. Compliance with such policies should be enforced by internal review and outside auditing agencies.

New or enhanced language under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act should specify that all hospitals are required to provide treatment on site, regardless of ethical or religious policies, when timely treatment is essential to protect the patient’s health. Hospitals should be prohibited from transferring the patient in such instances.